Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Fred Moore Drawings from The Little Whirlwind

I suspect that many of you have copies of these model sheets (possibly better copies than those above). But if you are unfamiliar with these, they're drawings by Moore from scenes 16 and 18 of The Little Whirlwind.

They're not in the order that they appear in the cartoon. And it's interesting to see how loosely Moore treats the pile of leaves in the upper left corner of the second sheet. Whoever his assistant was on this film, he had to meticulously draw the individual leaves. While that doesn't sound like fun, I'll bet there were assistants who would have gladly done it for the opportunity to work on Moore's drawings.

7 comments:

I am VERY surprised that sc.16 doesn't have an effects animator assigned to it on the draft. Things like leaves, rake, basket and whirlwind etc. would normally never be done by the animator other than indicated (as on the modelsheet ruffs), and then be finished by effects. I would be very surprised if Freddie's own assistant did these...

I was told years ago that it was Kimball, not Fred Moore, who actually drew these sheets; certainly it's Kimball's style and sense of humor to apply the seemingly unrelated words cut out from magazines that surround the poses--but as Mark identifies the animation from these poses as largely Fred's, it's a certainty then, that Fred did this? I always thought it must be.

At our studio we often made modelsheets from other animator's drawings if the need arose - so it is very possible--plausible, even--that Kimball took Freddie's animation (which was to be followed) and made these sheets of them. (Now you say so, I also seem to recall being told many years ago (by my old mentor Ring) that it was Kimball who did this cut'n'paste job.)

Those model sheet drawings are definitely from two of Moore's scenes in the film, so if Kimball had anything to do with those sheets, it probably was compiling them. I can't conceive that Kimball was doing keys for Moore.

I'm also surprised about no effects animator being listed for scene 16 and assume it was an oversight. As Jack Boyd did the scenes immediately before and after, it's likely that he did 16 as well.

But this brings up a lot of questions about what effects animators (if they should be called that here) actually did. Certainly some things -- the tornadoes, the water, the blast of air from Mickey yelling, the aroma from the cake, the flour -- should be handled by an effects animator. But the marching leaves? And the cake? There are many shots here with two or three animators listed and it's hard to figure out how the work would be divided.

Should some of these animators be referred to as junior animators or animating assistants if what they're doing -- like the cake -- is not really an effect?

Was great to see the other model sheets from this short. I actually own the original of sheet no. 3 from this cartoon. Hangs on my dinning room wall. Always gets comments - even from people not into cartoons. Love that cartoon!Michael

Michael, when you say you have the original, do you mean that you have the version that is physically pasted up from Moore's drawings and magazine clippings? Or do you have an original photostat model sheet from Disney? Just curious.

About Me

I've worked as an animator, writer, producer and director in TV animation for 29 years. I created the cgi series Monster By Mistake.
I hold a Masters degree from York University in Cinema and Media Studies and am currently teaching animation at Sheridan College.
I can be contacted at mark(dot)mayerson(at)sheridanc(dot)on(dot)ca.